And yet in the face of all this, the accused, guard Richie Incognito, who reportedly sent racially charged messages to Martin, drew rave reviews from teammates on Monday, many of whom are African-American.

"Richie has been nothing but a fun-loving guy to me, and to the people that have been around me," defensive end Jared Odrick said.

In fact, Dolphins players were almost unanimous in their support of Incognito, who was suspended indefinitely by the Dolphins on Sunday for "conduct detrimental to the team." Not a single player, publicly or privately, had a bad thing to say about Incognito, who was voted to the team's six-member Leadership Council, the group entrusted to solve problems. ...

The unwavering support for Incognito comes despite an NFL source and published reports saying that Incognito, over the past year and a half, has made references to Martin's biracial background, threatened his safety, and extorted Martin out of at least $15,000. Players say that would be out of character for Incognito.

"I don't think what people are saying about him is true," defensive end Derrick Shelby said. ...

Dolphins players said they don't think there's a negative environment around the team. They said perhaps some of what Martin has gone through has been normal.

"To some degree I think I don't want to call it hazing, it's a rite of passage," defensive end Cam Wake said. "This league is a group of elite men, it's a fraternity, it's a brotherhood, it's a lot of things. And there is a membership."

Although players overwhelmingly support Incognito in this matter, they've voiced support for Martin, too.

"Anything that's going on with J-Mart right now, I hope gets sorted out and I hope he's OK," Odrick said. "I hope he continues his career and plays great and plays awesome. He's a great guy. "

Seems like the guys are trying to project a united front, which is difficult because you have two polarly opposite sides of the spectrum to unify against.

Tue Nov 05, 2013 12:08 am

Rock Sexton

Phinfever Legend

Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2010 12:48 pmPosts: 6186

Re: Incognito draws rave reviews from teamates

Steve Zissou wrote:

I thought Schefter just said that message was left after Martin was a no-show to practice for 2 days.

I'm sorry for not being sensitive in this way but that voicemail was pretty dang funny to me

No, that voicemail was from April.

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Tue Nov 05, 2013 12:16 am

Phin

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Joined: Tue Jan 12, 2010 5:11 pmPosts: 9127Location: Fargo, ND

Re: Incognito draws rave reviews from teamates

Honestly I think Incognito was joking in the voicemail. I've worked with these type of guys where they act as if they hate you the way they talk, but really they are just busting your chops. I don't think Ritchie would have hung out with him if he didn't like him. That being said, its not an excuse anymore when the guy considers it to be harassing. You have to know where to draw the line. Looks like he took it too far.

Tue Nov 05, 2013 12:20 am

Rock Sexton

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Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2010 12:48 pmPosts: 6186

Re: Incognito draws rave reviews from teamates

Phin wrote:

Honestly I think Incognito was joking in the voicemail. I've worked with these type of guys where they act as if they hate you the way they talk, but really they are just busting your chops. I don't think Ritchie would have hung out with him if he didn't like him. That being said, its not an excuse anymore when the guy considers it to be harassing. You have to know where to draw the line. Looks like he took it too far.

On one of the shows I listened to today, they mentioned the idea that guys like Incognito were issued the task of toughening Martin up. They specifically brought that up because of some comments in the past that Pouncey made.

There's potential here for that to have gone awry with Richie taking it too far on a guy who might be experiencing some emotional difficulties. I mean Martin is currently with his family in LA getting some kind of counseling. Practically all of Richie's teammates love him. I wish we could hear the voicemails to dissect the tone .... in particular when he said the N-word. Was he mocking the how rappers refer to each other? Did he use the old school offensive version of the word?

Such a bizarre situation.

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Tue Nov 05, 2013 12:28 am

Rock Sexton

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Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2010 12:48 pmPosts: 6186

Re: Incognito draws rave reviews from teamates

Check out this video of Richie running around with his shirt off. At one point he shouts "Mike Pouncey, N***a" ..... and Pouncey doesn't care at all. He thinks it's funny. I think Richie even says Pouncey will be the best man at his wedding.

Inside the locker room, meanwhile, Dolphins players publicly supported both Incognito and Martin. None of the team’s first-year players who spoke Monday said they had ever encountered instances of extreme hazing. Martin was not in his first year, but he was a young player.

Incognito defended

Many Dolphins players had only good things to say about Incognito.

...

A source within the extended Miami Dolphins family told the Miami Herald that, by and large, the team is more in Incognito’s corner than Martin’s.

Not long after Martin stormed out of the team’s training complex Oct. 28, the source continued, he reached out to all of the Dolphins’ linemen via text message. The gist of the message was that Martin would be away for a while, but would come back better.

When Martin formally took his concerns to team management, the players felt he broke an unwritten rule, the source said.

And players were far more understanding of Incognito’s vile string of messages than was the outside world, the source continued.

Many of the players don’t see it as a bullying issue, the source said.

Logically thinking...if Richie wasn't joking, why leave a message like that on his voicemail? Maybe Richie is that stupid?

Or he felt comfortable enough in his friendship with Jmart he was just being himself. There is still something just not right about this whole story. Incog is a high strung guy and when he drinks he becomes an idiot but without hearing the audio....for me....I can't distinguish between a good friend just being stupid on the phone or a guy trying to intimidate.

Or he felt comfortable enough in his friendship with Jmart he was just being himself. There is still something just not right about this whole story. Incog is a high strung guy and when he drinks he becomes an idiot but without hearing the audio....for me....I can't distinguish between a good friend just being stupid on the phone or a guy trying to intimidate.

Exactly.

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Tue Nov 05, 2013 11:47 am

randylvc

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Joined: Fri Apr 23, 2010 6:45 amPosts: 440

Re: Incognito draws rave reviews from teamates

I'm pretty sure that Richie was joking in that message.. I also thiink martin pulled the Monica Lewinsky card out when it suited him best....

what sucks is that it leaves the team littler choice... they back Richie and it will follow them forever...

I hope martin never suits up for us again.. and I am gonna bet that this follows him to every locer room he walks into from now on...

as for the Phins.. they lose.. on both lines... and not a damm thing they can do about it..

I have got to learn to like pro bowling or something lol... this drama is getting old..

Tue Nov 05, 2013 12:32 pm

Big Dave

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Joined: Tue Jan 12, 2010 9:41 amPosts: 10227Location: Raleigh, NC

Re: Incognito draws rave reviews from teamates

ADAM H. BEASLEY AND ARMANDO SALGUERO wrote:

When Martin formally took his concerns to team management, the players felt he broke an unwritten rule, the source said.

And players were far more understanding of Incognito’s vile string of messages than was the outside world, the source continued.

Many of the players don’t see it as a bullying issue, the source said.

Either way, now it’s a matter for the NFL — one that could engulf the rest of the Dolphins’ season

Sounds like Jmart never really fit in with the whole "brotherhood" concept in the NFL along with his subpar play, maybe he saw this as an out. Pick up a salary for the rest of your life and take it easy. Given he has two parents with law degrees I'm sure he's been in constant contact with them. I hate to put a devious label on the guy but there's an Incognito on every team. Seriously, you think Ray Lewis wasn't intimidating when he was drunk? Don't you think he left a few choice messages for his "buddies" on a occasion. The more I hear of this story, the more my instinct is siding with Incognito.

Tue Nov 05, 2013 1:01 pm

Finhead34

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Joined: Sun Jan 24, 2010 8:57 amPosts: 5448Location: Houston, Texas

Re: Incognito draws rave reviews from teamates

I know this means absolutely zero in regards to this matter, but I have now personally met Incognito on 3 separate occasions as a fan and actually carried a 10 minute conversation with him and my opinion was he was a naturally funny guy when he talked with you and really sort of carefree and jovial.

I don't have any proof to say anything on this matter, other than just my own personal gut feeling, but I am starting to lean towards Richie getting this all blow up into something WAY more than it should be.

Junkie, the SAME thoughts entered my head about a settlement and be out of football sipping on a mojito with Jamarcus Russell, another lazy athlete that took it to the bank (of course from his playing contract not lawsuit).

Heck, if Martin wins some kind of a harassment suit, I wouldn't be surprised if it were more than his NFL contract.